Blacklands update today in Arlington

The North Texas area’s transportation planners are expected to receive another update today on the progress of a transportation study which may include a proposed toll road between Greenville and Lavon.

The Regional Transportation Council of the North Central Texas Council of Governments is scheduled to convene for a business meeting at 1 p.m. today in the NCTCOG headquarters in Arlington.

During the meeting, the organization’s Tom Shelton is to provide an update on the Blacklands Corridor Feasibility Study. The NCTCOG announced the start of the transportation study of the area between Lavon and Greenville during the July 25 public meeting in Lavon.

While the region has been designated by a private firm as a location to potentially build a toll road, to help ease traffic congestion in the future, NCTCOG officials on hand for the meeting told the crowd they had instructed Public Werks to “take a step back”, and let the agency at least begin its study to see if a toll road would be needed along the corridor.

Residents who live along the proposed toll road corridor told the officials they were opposed to the project.

The corridor is an old railroad right-of-way that has been unused for decades. It passes through the communities of Caddo Mills and Nevada on its path from central Hunt County to southeastern Collin County. Possible uses for the corridor include a private toll road, a public road, a commuter rail line, a freight rail line, a hike-and-bike path, or just leaving the corridor undeveloped.

The Regional Transportation Council of the North Central Texas Council of Governments has served as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for regional transportation planning in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since 1974. The MPO works in cooperation with the region’s transportation providers to address the complex transportation needs of the rapidly growing metropolitan area. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area includes Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant and Wise counties. The RTC’s 43 members include local elected or appointed officials from the metropolitan area and representatives from each of the area’s transportation providers.

The parking lot and cafeteria at Phyllis NeSmith Elementary School in Lavon were filled Thursday night, as representatives from the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) announced the start of a transportation study of the area between Lavon and Greenville.